The Sarasota Snake Club

by Jill Spellman

You may have seen this odd postcard somewhere, maybe a tourist shop or gift shop. It's a black-and-white photograph of ten children sitting at a soda fountain counter holding snakes. The snakes-some of them quite large - are slithering along the counter, wrapped around children's shoulders, held up to a drink as if trying to take sip. No one is looking at the camera, all just having their drinks and popsicles as if this was a normal everyday activity. One of those children was me.

On the back of the card it says "Snake Club, Sarasota, Florida, 1944." Only the date is wrong. It was actually 1948, and I was in the fifth grade. The children were (standing), me (Jill Sullivan), John Seago, and an unknown little girl; seated, left to right, a boy who I think was named Gary Wisener, then Keith Seago, Bobby Krimm, Anita Spencer, Carol Bradley, Sondra Montressor, and Nancy Shrode.

Not every fifth grader gets to belong to a snake club. Here's how it happened. Marie Proctor, a little girl on the rural route in Sarasota, was bitten by a snake while waiting for the school bus. She was rushed to the doctor and given anti-venom for a rattlesnake bite even though she didn't know what kind of snake it was. As it turned out, it probably wasn't a rattler, because she had a reaction to the anti-venom and gangrene set in, with the result that she had to have her leg amputated - the youngest amputee in the country at that time.

This event sparked a crusade, led by the father of one of the kids in my neighborhood, to teach people how to identify snakes and know which ones were poisonous, so that nothing so tragic need ever happen again. And also to learn how the nonpoisonous snakes were actually good helpers in nature's scheme of things, killing rodents and insects that harm crops.

So Mr. Krimm organized the Sarasota Snake Club, whose members included his son Bobby and nine other boys and girls in the neighborhood. All you had to do to be in the club was have a snake. Maybe you could catch one, say, an ordinary little garter snake you found on your lawn; but mostly we bought them from one of the local tourist attractions, Texas Jim's Reptile Farm. Read more...

(photo credit: Jill Spellman and Sondra Montressor-Dicken)

Yesterday's Sarasota Calendar

Every day of the year we highlight what took place in Sarasota's history, thanks to Whit Rylee and Tom Payne's extensive research and sense of humor. Frequently check our website's homepage to find out what occured today.

Also, be sure and check out Whit's website at: www.ChickenHillNC.com.

Today, in 1856, while his soon-to-be parents took refuge from the braves of Billy Bowlegs in Branch Fort on the Manatee River, little Furman C. Whitaker was born. Son of Bill Whitaker, Sarasota's first settler, Furman became the first native Sarasotan to become a doctor and return to Sarasota and practice medicine.

(photo credit: Sarasota County History Center)

History Locator

Sarasota History Alive! is spotlighting our county's historical markers for you in our weekly e-Newsletters. No sense in trying to read them as you drive by at 40 miles per hour any longer.

This week we are honoring the Yellow Bluffs historical marker. It reads: This area, so named for its outcroppings of yellow limestone, was the home of Sarasota's first inhabitants - the prehistoric and Calusa Indians. Yellow Bluffs later became the homesite of William H. Whitaker, Sarasota's first known white settler. It was also the embarkation point of Judah P. Benjamin, member of the Confederate Cabinet, who fled America at the end of the War Between The States in 1865.

Dedicated in 1963 by the Historical Society of Sarasota County and Florida Board of Parks.

Where Am I?

I've been around for quite awhile; heck, I used to be right in the center of town.

Let's see, what else should I tell you about me? Many Sarasotan's died for me, but I honor them to this day. I stand proudly near the waterfront, and you really should stop by and see me sometime. I am in a very serene area now, but traffic buzzes by, and only a few stop to visit me. How about you making some time for me, soon? Can't figure out where I am? Click here, for the answer.

Grover Koon's Photographic Journey

The Historic Triange Inn of Venice had its Grand Opening this past Friday, of the Grover Koon's photograpy collection, depicting the beginning of Venice. An enthusiastic crowd enjoyed a well-designed self-guided tour of the remarkable works produced by the famed 1920s photographer. Pictured above are some of the guests learning about the exhibit from the Executive Director, James Hagler. For information on museum hours, please call the Venice Archives and Area Historical Collection at the Triangle Inn. Phone: 941-486-2487.

Grover Cleveland Koons was born January 26, 1885, in Ohio. He and Pearl Commons (born December 9, 1885) were wed August 20, 1908. At the time of their wedding, Grover was residing in Eldorado, Ohio, and called his occupation ‘publisher.' Pearl listed herself as a housekeeper.

After a time as an editor and publisher of a newspaper in Hollansburg, Ohio, Grover became a publisher and eminent photographer, specializing in portrait and commercial photography. The Koons owned property in Sarasota, converting the outbuilding, now the guesthouse, into a studio. They were the original owners, living there from 1927 to 1930.

About the middle of the decade (1920s), the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers utilized Grover's skills with a camera to document the process of building a town virtually from scratch, the new city of Venice.

Most cities spring up by luck and accident. They are not born, they just grow. However, before the founding of Venice, the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers studied the merits of Florida's east and west coasts Read more...